The Influence

by GMBlackjack

XXXVIII

Twilence woke up in a bed.

She didn't remember having fallen asleep... She hadn't even dreamed.

She sat up, glancing around. The bed was one of the only things in this place, the rest more or less bare of anything. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made up of square engraving patterns that reminded her of the patterns where she had first found the Eye of Rhyme. Each square was identical, and each one glowed a soft yellow color.

She blinked. This all seemed very familiar. Stories tended to repeat, didn't they? Go full circle...

She got out of the bed and found a note stapled the side of it. Commune with the Influence before going anywhere. The ink was brown, the paper crisp and new.

She stared at it, knots tying in her stomach. What had Aradia and Pinkie done? Why hadn't she seen it? Why did it seem like their actions hadn't gone as planned? What did the other Vriska do? Questions she couldn't answer. Questions she could probably never answer.

She sighed. "Fine, I will talk to them. So... Ponygood, yeah, I think this is the Ordeal, though as to what it actually means, well, I don't know. I expect it won't be very pleasant. And... apparently, I need to face it alone. Though you are here, so I suppose it isn't' really alone. I do hope Pinkie will explain when I look at her. And..." She read Ponygood's talk about Songs of the Spheres, all the data. She furrowed her brow.

She was certain some of the information was wrong.

She glanced at the Eye. "Care to be more specific in those revelations?"

The Eye gave her no more meta knowledge.

"Sometimes I wonder..." She shook her head. "Creek, don't worry, I'm fine. At least for now. And thank you, for, well, for being there. I do find it odd your company doesn't know about Songs of the Spheres... You probably asked around already, huh? Yeah." She turned to Nickel's and Ponygood's conversation/argument about dimensional travel and forces. She was confused by it, and yet it made perfect sense. She shook her head, glancing at the Eye again. "...Are you getting stronger or something?"

Again, no response.

Twilence shrugged. "Moving on... Wolfe... Okay, if that helps. Sonic... You are right about one thing, I do need to find my true self. That does seem to be what all this is building towards. It's going to be something unexpected, isn't it...? And Ponygod -I am very curious about that Broken Eye, and will consider bringing M and the Starshell at the last altar." And.... that was all she had to comment on. It really seemed like the Influence was getting less and less chatty over time.

Regardless, she walked across the engravings to an open wall that seemed to go on forever. She didn't have to walk long before she saw one of the blocks with engravings slide out of the floor and into the ceiling, leaving a hole in the floor. Twilence poked her head through the hole, seeing an entire another floor. She flew down - and sure enough, it looked exactly the same as the one above. Nothing but softly glowing square designs in every direction.

She continued on - flying through the expanse she was quickly realizing was a maze. She went up, down, left, right, forward, backward, but nothing ever seemed to change. She teleported through walls easily enough, but when she looped back around the scenery had changed.

This was hardly fair - no way to map a changing maze. There was no pattern to the pathways at all, and the blocks all looked the same. The engravings didn't help, no matter how much she studied them.

She grit her teeth. "This is greeeeeat..."

She had no idea how long she wandered until she found the room with something different in it.

There was a large pillar made of wires, screens, sprockets, and magic dust. It rose from the floor to the ceiling, roughly three times as tall as Twilence. Magic sparked off of it continually and all the screens were static. Numerous cables ended with strange points - screwdrivers, blowtorches, and other things Twilence couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"Curious, isn't it?"

Twilence turned around to see a familiar face. "...Lore Thirst?"

The brown stallion nodded.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I don't know," he said. "I was just... here."

Twilence frowned. "...Same." She looked at the pillar. "What do you suppose this is, anyway?"

"Ancient lab station. Specifically, one with more advanced tools than I've ever seen. One that looks to be in full working order."

"Huh."

"It must be here for a reason."

Twilence raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"I did say I could improve your Eye if I had the right tools. This certainly qualifies as the right tools."

Twilence squinted at the tool station. "...That makes sense. Though, I'd figured that'd happen after I went through some ordeals... Not just some random wandering."

Lore Thirst shrugged. "It can be questioned later. Right now, I believe you'll want an upgrade."

"You sure you know how to use this stuff?"

"Yes. I know you don't trust me. And you shouldn't. But my offer is genuine. Remember, our goals line up. You want more power and strength to save the world. I want more knowledge."

Twilence knew that made sense. She still wasn't happy about it. "Fine. What do we do?"

Lore Thirst grabbed two of the cables with strange, shifting points. "I have spent long studying the theory behind this, awaiting the opportunity. I did not expect it to fall into my lap like this, but here we are. Come closer, put your Eye right in front of me."

Twilence hesitated - but she knew she had to do this. She knew, deep down, that the Pivotal Point involved the Eye being worked on. Maybe once it was upgraded she'd be able to know with more certainty.

She walked to where Lore Thirst indicated - and he set to work. The cables plugged into the Eye. She felt it - it wasn't painful, but it was as if the Eye was part of her body. She became slightly dazed, the connections in her brain shifting around, maximizing efficiency. The Eye itself did not change visibly on the outside - but the inside was swirled around in bizarre ways. Everything buzzed...

"Done," Lore Thirst said, backing up.

Twilence blinked. "...That was fast."

"That took twenty minutes."

"Oh." She looked down at the Eye. "I don't feel any different."

"Try to go to one of those 'links' you never could before."

Twilence tried to go to the 'Influencing the Influence' discussion and found out she could. Something about a fake religion (probably that stupid Butt the Cloud thing) and Wolfe getting 'triggered' (whatever that meant). She moved around a bit, finding she was able to go to every position, every place. She was able to reach back around to the Influence itself... She read the summary of her story, in the words of GM... Adding tags... She read the first chapter, remembering where she started, in that room, on that island...

She went to the end. Currently, the last scene was her vanishing. No bed, no unusual cube hallways, nothing.

She smirked. "I guess I can read it all now..." She was able to easily navigate to GM's other stories. She didn't have time to read them, of cousre, but she was just proving she could. Though for whatever reason the Songs of the Spheres forum came back as static.

The Dark Tower doesn't want you knowing.

She frowned. Had Ponygood been wrong in his assertions, or had she just been prevented from registering certain bits of information?

Both.

"Well, this is certainly an improvement," Twilence said. "It's a lot clearer about the strange bits of meta knowledge."

"It should be. The processing has been improved. You should also be able to see your friends whenever you want now."

Twilence tried that.

~~~

The Overseer did not look happy. The other Vriska was gone, but everyone else was still there. "So, Aradia, care to explain?"

"Already did," Aradia said. "We've been had. The annals of time have changed due to Siron's influence on the other Vriska. She did something to move Twilence where we couldn't get her."

"The catacombs!" Gilead yelled. "Of all the places..."

Orchid shook her head. "Calm yourself about your precious catacombs, Gilead. It was obviously chosen so we couldn't get there."

"What does this mean for the ordeals?" the Overseer asked.

"I am not sure," Aradia said. "The Pivotal Point will still happen though, I am sure of it-"

Pinkie raised a hoof. "Hey, Overseer, the Influence has some questions."

The Overseer visibly twitched. "Pinkie can you-"

"They can see us now they probably won't see us later and the questions aren't that hard."

"...Proceed."

"What do you know about the red ship? Are Four and Nine Hundred okay? What does Eye of Sign mean?"

The Overseer paused. "That is my ship, the one in which I came to this planet. It is currently on guard, preventing anything from coming to or leaving the planet. The Ancients proved to cause problems when they went to explore the stars, so I created a barrier. Four and Nine Hundred are fine, just a little bored. There is also a Heildor shard on the ship, but it's not causing any problems. And as for me... The Eye of Sign. I am able to see things, signs, what happens at the present moment. I myself am a sign to all, a deity of sorts. Admittedly, the word 'Sign' is not as literal as Rhyme or Time, it's more metaphorical. "

Pinkie nodded. "Yep, okay, good. There we go. Twilence, whatever happens next... Sorry this whole thing had to be botched."

Aradia turned to Pinkie. "This... This had to be botched?"

"Uh..."

"You knew."

Pinkie grinned. "...Yeeeeeeeah. I know lots of things."

Aradia twitched before sighing. "I... Right."

Evanescence narrowed her eyes. "Pinkie. You could, and should, be charged for this. Not acting on knowledge."

"I kinda have to not act on it, or else things fall apart. Twilence is different, though. She'll... Well I can't say, and also I don't know for sure. The ending is in flux!"

~~~

Twilence blinked. "The evil Vriska is gone..."

"Hm?"

"Nothing. I also learned a few things... Pinkie knew about this. We're in the catacombs. And the Overseer is losing patience."

"He only has so much."

"Yeah..." Twilence turned to Lore Thirst. "...The Eye isn't truly complete yet, is it?"

"Definitely not," Lore Thirst said. "Do you know why?"

Twilence frowned. She felt like she did... "Why?"

"It does not have the connections it needs. And those are connections I cannot provide. I can simply improve its methodology with what it has."

"Mmm..."

"There is one last thing I can do."

"Oh?"

"Try to synch the Influence and your Mind, to create a common experience of time. A 'live' interaction, if you will."

Twilence raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think... You really can. You know you can."

"Yes."

"...What are you waiting for then? I'd... I'd really like to actually talk with them."

"You'll get your wish..." Lore Thirst grabbed one of the cables and stuck it into the eye.

And then everything went blue.

< https://discord.gg/pv4VTvt >

Comments

[Ponygood11]

So, apparently, someone named Mr. Green was watching this story but never commented. Is there anyone else here that did the same?

[Sunbro4life]

Ha ha greetings my friends I have returned from jolly Cooperation quite the mess of grave lords attacking the one who had called upon me .

[Ponygood11]

Alright, i'm hoping you can get this message. Apparently lore Thirst's tearing your eye off and Aradia's frozen time to contact us before that happens. Apparently, you and Vriska cannot die, but the others are not safe. Take care of them!

[nickle241]

8458298
it wasn't stated that the eye was being removed now, simply that it was occurring at some point in time, though admittedly everything is unclear right now

[GMBlackjack]

[YOU WERE TOLD YOU WERE ALREADY SUBJECT TO THE COMPILATION'S TERMS OF SERVICE.]

[Ponygood11]

For all you future readers that got to here, please check out 'a little conversation' before continuing to the next chapter. It contains a full transcript of our conversation with Twilence, back when she was speaking live with us. Be sure to check out the rest of the group that this conversation is in, too, if you wish.

#Totallynotdoingthistoclaimthe1000thcomment